Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Advanced Fire Infant
Seeing the fire crystal, half-sunken in the magma, Lu Yu gritted his teeth and jumped towards the rock beside it. The explosion had exposed this piece of cooled volcanic rock to the magma.
Lands on the rock, Lu Yu used the Overlord Saber to lift the fire crystal from the magma. Even when lifted, he could clearly feel the fire crystal’s suction towards the surrounding magma. The consciousness of the fire spirit continued to struggle, but it was futile.
Once the fire crystal was exposed to the air, the surface magma quickly cooled into a black rock. Lu Yu crushed the solidified magma, put away the Overlord Saber, and returned to Ouyang Lie’s side.
"Here you go, this is yours for the kill." He handed the fire crystal to him. Lu Yu controlled the automatic operation of the Ice and Fire Sevenfold Heaven Cultivation Technique and refrained from absorbing the spiritual Qi inside the fire crystal.
Ouyang Lie took the fire crystal and said, "I only prepared an iron rod, and that explosion just now used up almost thirty percent of my spiritual power. I need to recover some spiritual power. You’ll lead the way for the rest."
"No problem." Lu Yu stepped in front of Ouyang Lie, taking out the saber that had deformed fighting the fire spirit, and began the pathfinding task.
Fortunately, the two did not encounter another fire spirit, otherwise, they would not know what to do.
The man in blue had already disappeared, and the lava monster he was fighting had turned to stone, with the occasional flash of red flowing magma in the crevices, indicating it was not completely dead.
If possible, Lu Yu also wanted to deliver the final blow. Although the lava monster did not have anything valuable on it, the experience gained from killing it was the greatest reward.
Up to now, Lu Yu had not killed a single fire spirit, nor gained any benefits from it. The only one that was severely injured by a skyfall ended up self-destructing at the last moment, which wasn’t counted as killed by Lu Yu.
Lu Yu and Ouyang Lie lay on a huge rock, formed by layers of solidified magma, somewhat uncomfortable. However, the focus wasn’t the discomfort of the rock but the giant valley ahead.
A flowing lava waterfall hung from the cliff inside the valley, beneath which lay a magma lake. The magma lake had no outlet, or rather, its outlet was at the lake’s bottom.
Many fire spirits inhabited the magma lake, and now and then, fire spirits in flame form fell into the lake from the lava waterfall.
The walls on both sides of the valley were covered in black and red vines, primarily black, with some tiny red veins inlaid on the surface, emitting a red glow as if it were flowing magma.
The roots of the vines were orange-red, embedded in the magma lake. At the top of the vines grew crystal-clear spirit fruits, each wrapped in numerous leaves to protect them from magma splashes.
Through the gaps between the leaves, Lu Yu could see those spirit fruits.
Some plump and large spirit fruits had already slipped out of the leaf wrapping, hanging downward toward the magma lake, occasionally picked by fire spirits rising to snatch those ripe spirit fruits.
Most of the ripe spirit fruits still remained on the vines, and only a few fire spirits with permission could pick them to advance.
Most fire spirits, although desiring the spirit fruits, did not dare to pick them without permission from an unknown presence.
Ouyang Lie nudged Lu Yu with his elbow, signaling him to look to the right, where a few more people were hidden behind the rocks, indicating that they weren’t the only ones eyeing the spirit fruits.
One could say the valley was already surrounded by human Martial Cultivators. If not for the treacherous terrain below and the numerous fire spirits, the roots of the spirit fruit vines might have already been uprooted.
"What are they waiting for?" Lu Yu asked.
"For a fire spirit to evolve into a mature fire spirit. At that time, all the fire spirits will kneel before the successfully advanced fire spirit, celebrating and pledging allegiance."
"That’s the best time to pick the spirit fruits. The time is short, so grab as many as you can, but don’t be greedy. Be sure to leave the valley before the fire spirits re-emerge from the magma."
"Once you’ve picked the spirit fruits, run as far as you can," Ouyang Lie advised.
"Earlier, I saw you running with the vine. Why not directly pick the spirit fruit and put it in the storage bag?"
"It’s not that I don’t want to put it away, but I can’t. The freshly picked spirit fruits contain fire poison, which needs to be left in the air for a while before consumption."
"Putting it directly into the storage bag would contaminate the entire spirit fruit with fire poison, making it inedible. So the best way to pick the spirit fruit is to tear off an entire vine, letting the fire poison within the spirit fruits on it dissipate in the air."
"Never risk directly consuming spirit fruits imbued with fire poison, or the fire poison will burn away your Qi Blood and spiritual Qi." Ouyang Lie warned sternly.
"How do you know so much? You only arrived in Beifeng City not long ago, right?" Lu Yu asked, a bit puzzled.
"It’s not that I know too much; it’s that you know too little. These things are recorded in the Encyclopedia of Heavenly Treasures and Spiritual Herbs. You clearly haven’t studied it thoroughly. I won’t boast about other things, but when it comes to learning, I am definitely a top student." Ouyang Lie said proudly.
Lu Yu had nothing to say, knowing he had suffered for lack of knowledge. He planned to find some reading material on the basic information of the Martial World after he got out.
The two said nothing more, quietly lying on the rock, watching the magma lake below.
Rumble~ A loud noise erupted from the mountain top, with magma inside the volcano boiling over like a pot of overcooked hot soup. The prolonged cooking had begun to make it expand and spill out of the crater.
Several magma waves rushed out of the volcano, flowing downhill. Fortunately, the direction of the lava flow wasn’t towards Magma Valley.
When Lu Yu turned his head from the volcanic crater back to the valley, he saw the fire spirits that were frolicking in the magma lake submerge beneath it. A whirlpool emerged at the center of the magma lake, growing larger and larger.
Once all the fire spirits submerged, the whirlpool stopped growing. At its center was a massive orange-red fireball, containing a fire spirit whose size was rapidly growing.
"Now," Ouyang Lie whispered.
Ouyang Lie pushed off the ground with both hands, his entire body parallel to the ground as he flew out, quickly approaching the edge of the valley.
When Lu Yu saw the fire spirit begin sinking towards the bottom of the lake, he was already prepared. Like a fierce tiger poised to spring, he kicked off with his legs, moving rapidly on all fours.
In the Fierce Tiger Descending the Mountain technique, there’s a method of using force for swift movement on all fours.
The two appeared simultaneously at the valley’s edge, where fire spirit fruit vines grew. Some fire spirit fruits were still unripe. Lu Yu didn’t pick the easily reachable fire spirit fruits but stepped on the vines, descending quickly.
The slightest mistake in snatching fire spirit fruits would be disastrous. One misstep could mean falling straight into the magma lake within the valley.
Yet they couldn’t afford to descend slowly, as the fire spirit would soon re-emerge on the lake’s surface, and other competitors were nearby, seeking to seize the fire spirit fruits.
"Damn it!"
As soon as Lu Yu heard the sound, he felt a gust of wind pass by, followed by the sound of vines snapping. Ouyang Lie was sabotaged, falling into the valley.
In mid-air, Ouyang Lie grabbed a vine. After tearing off a large section of vines, he stopped falling, avoiding the magma lake and instead getting closer to the ripening fire spirit fruits.
This speed was something Ouyang Lie definitely didn’t want to experience again; he almost fell into the magma lake.
Just as Lu Yu saw Ouyang Lie halt his fall, the vine he was holding onto lost its support and began to fall.
He hurriedly activated Fierce Tiger Heart Piercer, strengthening his fingers to embed into the cliffside, using just his right hand to hang from the cliff. Large patches of vines fell from above him into the magma lake.
Looking up, there were several people cutting the roots of the vines fixed to the cliffside, causing the vines to fall due to their own weight.
"Stop!"
Several people in government uniforms ignored picking the fire spirit fruits and rushed up, trying to stop the others.
The fire spirit fruits were unique to this mystical realm, and even if others picked them, they would never damage the fire spirit fruit trees, as it was a harmful and unprofitable act, inviting pursuit by forces from Beifeng City.
Large sections of vines fell into the magma lake, triggering a disturbance from the fire spirit within it. The lake’s surface shook. The large fireball at the center of the lake ignored its advancement progress and rose into the air, charging towards those damaging the fire spirit fruit trees.
Sizzling—the two crimson beams shot out from the fireball, melting the heat-resistant cliffside as they swept across it.
Seeing this, no one dared to take the beams from the advancing fire spirit head-on and dodged rapidly.
Lu Yu leaped and darted on the cliffside, dodging the falling rocks and lava from above, grabbing a swinging vine to quickly descend.
As he neared the magma lake’s surface, he quickly let go and grabbed another vine on the cliffside, climbing towards the nearest fire spirit fruit.
Seeing a vine with six or seven fire spirit fruits hanging from it, he quickly grabbed it, snapped it off, and wrapped the vine with the fruits around him, like several large lightbulbs strapped to his body.
Lu Yu felt the fire poison Ouyang Lie mentioned. As the fire spirit fruits were near his body, the operation of his cultivation technique made him feel a scorching heat where the fire spirit fruits touched his skin.
This was a sensation he hadn’t experienced while absorbing fire spirit fruits before.
Paying no heed to the fire poison within the fire spirit fruits, Lu Yu quickly climbed towards another vine with three or four fire spirit fruits.
Thud—a shadow fell into the valley, splashing into the magma. A brief flash of fire appeared on the magma lake’s surface before the body quickly submerged.
With no reaction upon falling into the magma, that person likely died before the fall.
Lu Yu grabbed the vine with fire spirit fruits and was about to snap it when he caught sight of an orange-red light cluster emerging from the magma lake at the corner of his eye—it was the fire spirit.
He snapped the vine, hurriedly wrapping it with the previous vine, and climbed upwards in haste.
Suddenly, a sensation of heat at his feet startled him, a glob of magma narrowly missing his shoe sole and splashing onto the cliffside. As he turned back, clusters of orange-red light rose from below. These fire spirits were constantly spraying magma at those on the cliff.
"Ah!"
Sizzling—a man’s arm was scalded by magma, his scream resounding. Yet he didn’t dare stop, unable to even attend to the magma on his arm, grabbing onto the vine with one hand and climbing upwards relentlessly.
The fire spirits had already emerged on the lake’s surface; a slight delay meant permanent entrapment here.
As Lu Yu climbed upward, he felt a heat source approach, thinking it was a fire spirit spraying magma at him. Turning around, he found it was Ouyang Lie, vines covering his entire body.
Ouyang Lie climbed alongside him, saying, "Something’s wrong—these fire spirits shouldn’t have come out so fast. It could be the advanced fire spirit leaving that caused this."
"Let’s avoid that advanced fire spirit later. Even though it hasn’t completed its advancement, its strength is still terrifying."
Whoosh—large globs of magma rained down like a deluge of arrows, targeting the cliffside where Lu Yu was.